ASR Vermogensbeheer N.V. Invests $682,000 in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS)

Key Points

• ASR Vermogensbeheer N.V. has acquired 2,226 shares of Essex Property Trust, Inc., valued at approximately $682,000, during the first quarter of the year.
• Essex Property Trust recently reported earnings of $4.03 per share for the quarter, surpassing the consensus estimate and projecting earnings of 15.96 per share for the current year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $2.57, resulting in an annualized dividend yield of 4.0% with a payout ratio of 82.64%.

ASR Vermogensbeheer N.V. acquired a new stake in Essex Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE:ESS - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 2,226 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock, valued at approximately $682,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. QRG Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Essex Property Trust in the first quarter valued at $653,000. CWA Asset Management Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Essex Property Trust by 10.0% in the first quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 883 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $271,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Essex Property Trust in the first quarter valued at $705,000. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Essex Property Trust by 1.2% in the first quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 133,886 shares of the real estate investment trust's stock valued at $41,045,000 after acquiring an additional 1,569 shares during the period. Finally, Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund bought a new stake in shares of Essex Property Trust in the first quarter valued at about $569,000. 96.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ESS has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Piper Sandler cut shares of Essex Property Trust from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their target price for the company from $355.00 to $275.00 in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Mizuho cut their price target on Essex Property Trust from $314.00 to $293.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Truist Financial set a $283.00 target price on Essex Property Trust and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on Essex Property Trust from $306.00 to $307.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Essex Property Trust from $315.00 to $317.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $303.91.

Essex Property Trust Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of NYSE ESS traded up $1.90 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $253.98. 382,660 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 629,259. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 1.09 and a current ratio of 1.09. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $280.25 and a 200-day moving average price of $284.83. Essex Property Trust, Inc. has a 52 week low of $243.85 and a 52 week high of $317.73. The company has a market cap of $16.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.42, a PEG ratio of 6.48 and a beta of 0.80.

Essex Property Trust (NYSE:ESS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 29th. The real estate investment trust reported $4.03 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.99 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $465.84 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $466.47 million. Essex Property Trust had a return on equity of 13.98% and a net margin of 43.51%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.94 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Essex Property Trust, Inc. will post 15.96 EPS for the current year.

Essex Property Trust Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 30th were paid a dividend of $2.57 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 30th. This represents a $10.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.0%. Essex Property Trust's dividend payout ratio is presently 82.64%.

Essex Property Trust Profile

Essex Property Trust, Inc, an S&P 500 company, is a fully integrated real estate investment trust (REIT) that acquires, develops, redevelops, and manages multifamily residential properties in selected West Coast markets. Essex currently has ownership interests in 252 apartment communities comprising approximately 62,000 apartment homes with an additional property in active development.